5 replies to this topic

[Strontium Dog]

I may have foolishly caused some errors before by editing a game via shadowkeeper while that very same save-game was running. Anyway, I would now like to edit the creatures-files listed in shadowkeeper as I feel that a lot of opponents or allies(eg:- elementals(with STR of 17) and demons, ordinary villains etc.) aren't powerful enough antagonists, and would like to up their statistics.. Would this work? If so, would the changes made only apply to games started after the corrections were made?

Thanks,

SD

[Azazello]

I think Shadowkeeper is not the preferred editor for a megainstall game. Try either DLTCEP or N.I.

You should know better than to run an editor while the game is running... There's really no excuse for doing that.

Your changes will apply to whatever your current installation is, as the changed files will be dropped into the override folder. You could save these files off-site then add them back in if you ever re-install.

If you have more deeper questions about modding, there are some useful links in the IE Modding forum.

[Hoppy]

Strontium, Before you edit anything in ShadowKeeper close out your game at least to the menu screen (New Game--- Load Game etc.) then edit your save of choice. I do this by alt-tab the game when in menu screen then edit shadowkeeper to get my new save (000X) then open BG2 window again. Choose load game and my new one is there. I would shy away from editing in Near Infinity. Although I fixed a couple things with it, my dialog.tlk got really weird making some in game text strange. if you edit any thing make sure you have a good copy of your mega-mod dialog.tlk that won't get changed. I wish I could give some pointers on DLTCEP but I am getting used to that now myself.
Regarding tougher enemies, why are you not playing Big Picture? Golems and Giants waste my party to almost nothing with their boulders. You will find too that some of the items you may have--St.Cuthbert's mace from Shadow Dragon (courtesy of FR-ROV mod items) are very powerful too, making 2-3 hits on a lich literally destroy the pain in the arse.
Best of luck,
Hoppy

[Azazello]

From what I've read, one should never edit dialog.tlk with any editor, unless you plan on starting a new game. Let's let the experts confirm or deny this.

Making a backup of it in either case is mandatory.

[Strontium Dog]

Strontium, Before you edit anything in ShadowKeeper close out your game at least to the menu screen (New Game--- Load Game etc.) then edit your save of choice. I do this by alt-tab the game when in menu screen then edit shadowkeeper to get my new save (000X) then open BG2 window again. Choose load game and my new one is there. I would shy away from editing in Near Infinity. Although I fixed a couple things with it, my dialog.tlk got really weird making some in game text strange. if you edit any thing make sure you have a good copy of your mega-mod dialog.tlk that won't get changed. I wish I could give some pointers on DLTCEP but I am getting used to that now myself.
Regarding tougher enemies, why are you not playing Big Picture? Golems and Giants waste my party to almost nothing with their boulders. You will find too that some of the items you may have--St.Cuthbert's mace from Shadow Dragon (courtesy of FR-ROV mod items) are very powerful too, making 2-3 hits on a lich literally destroy the pain in the arse.
Best of luck,
Hoppy

I gave up on the idea of installing Big Picture because of all the endless online bug-reports re this beta-level mod(eg:- dragons not attacking just standing still etc.) plus the fact that it clashed with Oversight's Improved Sendai Mod-component, which I happen to like tremendously. As for the Big-Picture enhancements such as golems throwing boulders/improved giants etc., that's already included in the rather more stable Tactics mod, and there are a few other combat-encounter-enhancement mods which I use as well such as "Improved Battles/DoTQuest/DoTweak etc.) I'm sure BP will eventually get fixed but I'd like to play one bug-free Tactics-style game in the meantime.

Re ueber-items:- I have admittedly, made a habit of installing lots of item-mods like FR-ROV etc., but I really hate using ueber-items like Crom-Faeyr/cloak of mirroring(iecloak of cheese) which make the game a dead-bore to run through(other than the dialogue and roleplaying). I'm now using Zyraen's miscellany component in order to greatly limit damage and THACO as well as nerfing/reducing the powers of the standard ueber-weapons in the game. This won't affect most items created by the item-mods I've added, but I can always drop orsell any too-powerful items. My aim is, rather, to make spellcasters more powerful via the spell50/wild-magic mods etc. as I've always found it really annoying that fighters are so comparably more powerful than any other class in AD&D PC roleplaying games.

I prefer to use shadowkeeper as I'm a technophobe, and it took some time to learn how to use it properly, when I first tried it.I checked DLTCEP and it seemed so hopelessly overcomplicated that I figured I would never be able to understand it without a readme - haven't figured yet how to get Near-Infinity selecting the right savegame or whatever, but I'd, anyway, rather stick to ther tried and true ShadowKeeper, in the meantime. As long as I don't edit ShadowKeeper while a savegame is running, everything will be fine.

My one problem now is BG2TweaksPack. I'd sorted out previous CTD bugs by removing the beta-component fix of BG2FixPack, but then I uninstalled/reinstalled purely because of the new beta-fixes of Bg2TweakPack which allow saving-throw penalties for spells cast by higher-level spellcasters etc. I'll try one more time with only one or two of the new beta-fixes. If it still doesn't work, I'll just wait until the saving-throw-penalty component is improved beyond the beta stage. It's funny - in the past, I always made it a golden rule to never ever play through any alpha or beta versions and only use the refined, completed versions/patches thereof, and I almost never had a problem, as a result.

[Ymarsakar]

Improved Anvil has creatures, overriden sorts, with higher resistances and what not. Not sure about its compatibility with the mods you want to use, but it is a difficulty type mod that isn't centered around the Tactics build.